Press Review

Wednesday's Czech dailies offer a mixed bag of headlines. HOSPODARSKE NOVINY leads with the story that the disease SARS - which has not been detected in the Czech Republic - could cost the country billions as tourists from Asia choose not to travel.

There has already been a fall of one quarter in the number of Asian tourists visiting the Czech Republic, the daily reports. Tour operator Tomio Okamura tells the daily that if SARS is discovered in this country, Japanese tourists will stay away in even greater numbers. What's more, they are the highest spending tourists: whereas the average German spends 40 dollars a day, the average Japanese tourist spends almost 100 dollars.

Another story making the headlines is the ongoing saga about former foreign minister Jan Kavan, who has been accused of not destroying classified documents which he reported had been shredded. Mr Kavan himself tells LIDOVE NOVINY that he has not broken the law and will not resign as an MP. Meanwhile, commentator Petr Uhl writes in PRAVO that the whole matter is a storm in a tea-cup.

Staying with PRAVO, the daily carries a piece on the maturita, or school leaving exams. Under the current system, if a student fails two or more subjects they have to wait a whole year for a chance to repeat. Such a long wait is a waste of time, argues the paper, and quotes Civic Democrats' education spokesman Walter Bartos, who says students should be given the chance to repeat after the summer holidays.

MLADA FRONTA DNES carries a feature on the state of Czech trains. While public transport in the Czech Republic has a reputation for punctuality, trains are often late, says the daily, adding that for many Czech Rail has become a symbol of unreliability. Company director Petr Kousal is grilled by MLADA FRONTA on such issues as why some trains are unheated, why smoking is still allowed in some carriages and why passengers have to pay to use station toilets.

PRAVO carries a photo of Czech football captain Pavel Nedved arriving at Manchester airport ahead of the biggest game in club football, the Champions League final. Sadly for Mr Nedved, he will miss what would have been one of the biggest games of his career due to suspension, and will have to be content with cheering on his Juventus teammates from the stands at Old Trafford.

While the price of flats has shot up in recent years, the good news is that the number of flats being built is also on the increase, writes MLADA FRONTA DNES. However, new flats - of which there should be almost 30,000 this year - don't stay on the market long, says the daily; most are snapped up as soon as they go on sale.